Thomas Paine

Olive Branch Petition

On July 8, 1775, the colonies made a final offer of peace to Britain, agreeing to be loyal to the British government if it addressed their grievances (repealed the Coercive Acts, ended the taxation without representation policies). It was rejected by Parliament, which in December 1775 passed the American Prohibitory Act forbidding all further trade with the colonies.

Declaration of Rights and Grievances

First Continental Congress

(1774) Against the Intolerable Acts, it was meant to coordinate a protest. 55 delegates sent from 12 of the colonies (excluding Georgia) to write a list of their rights and grievances to the King as a petition. It united the colonies and created a sense of togetherness.

Quebec Act

Coercive Acts

Also known as the Intolerable Acts. Several British laws designed to punish colonists for their role in the Boston Tea Party. The most famous of the acts shut down Boston Harbor until the tea was paid for.

Tea Act

Committees of Correspondence

Samuel Adams started the first committee in Boston in 1772 to spread propaganda and secret information by way of letters, which were extremely effective, and a few years later almost every colony had one. This kept the opposition alive.

Boston Massacre

(1770) British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists who were teasing and taunting them; five colonists were killed. The colonists blamed the British and the Sons of Liberty and used this incident as an excuse to promote the Revolution.

Samuel Adams

John Dickinson

Drafted a declaration of colonial rights and grievances, and also wrote the series of "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" in 1767 to protest the Townshend Acts. However, he is against revolution, and refused to sign the Declaration of Independence.

No taxation without representation

Stamp Act

An act passed by the British parliament in 1756 that raised revenue from the American colonies by a duty in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers and legal or commercial documents; raised much protests.

Quartering Act

Sugar Act

(1764) British was deeply in debt for the French & Indian War, so the English Parliament placed a tariff on sugar, coffee, wines, and molasses. The Colonists avoided the tax by smuggling and bribing tax collectors.

George Grenville

Appointed by King George III as the Prime Minister, he had the opinion that the colonists should obey the laws and pay a part of the cost of defending and administering the British empire; passed the Sugar and Stamp Acts.

Proclamation of 1763

A proclamation from the British government which forbade British colonists from settling west of the Appalacian Mountains, and which required any settlers already living west of the mountains to move back east.

Salutary Neglect

Peace of Paris (1763)

Ended French and Indian War. The French ceded to Great Britain some of their West Indian islands and most of their colonies in India. Canada, all French territory east of Mississippi to Britain except New Orleans; all land west of Mississippi plus New Orleans to Spain.

French and Indian War

John Peter Zenger

Journalist who questioned the policies of the governor of New York in the 1700's. He was jailed; he sued, He was found not guilty. This court case was the basis for the America's freedom of speech and press.

Poor Richard's Almanac

Benjamin Franklin

Printer, author, inventor, diplomat, statesman, and one of the Founding Fathers. One of the few Americans who was highly respected in Europe, primarily due to his discoveries in the field of electricity.

Triangular Trade

John Locke

English philosopher who advocated the idea of a "social contract" in which government powers are derived from the consent of the governed and in which the government serves the people; also said people have natural rights to life, liberty and property.

Glorious Revolution

Dominion of New England

1686, the British government combined the colonies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut into a single province headed by a royal governor (Andros); ended in 1692, when the colonists revolted and drove out Governor Andros.

Navigation Acts

Laws that governed trade between England and its colonies. Colonists were required to ship certain products exclusively to England. These acts made colonists very angry because they were forbidden from trading with other countries.

Mercantilism

James Oglethorpe

Founder and governor of the Georgia colony, which is a tightly-disciplined, military-like colony. Slaves, alcohol, and Catholicism were forbidden in his colony. Many colonists felt that Oglethorpe was a dictator, and that (along with the colonist's dissatisfaction over not being allowed to own slaves) caused the colony to break down and Oglethorpe to lose his position as governor.

Restoration Colonies

King Philip's War

1675, a series of battles in New Hampshire between the colonists and the Wompanowogs, led by a chief known as King Philip. The war was started when the Massachusetts government tried to assert court jurisdiction over the local Indians. The colonists won with the help of the Mohawks, and this victory opened up additional Indian lands for expansion.

New England Confederation

Halfway Covenant

A Puritan church policy of 1662, which allowed partial membership rights to persons not yet converted into the Puritan church; It lessened the difference between the "elect" members of the church from the regular members. Women soon made up a larger portion of Puritan congregations.

John Davenport

Fundamental Order of Connecticut

Ordered in 1639, this governmental system was adopted by the Connecticut puritans that included representative assemblies and a popularly-elected governor; referred to as the first written constitution of America.

Thomas Hooker

A Puritan minister who led about 100 settlers out of Massachusetts Bay to Connecticut because he believed that the governor and other officials had too much power. He wanted to set up a colony in Connecticut with strict limits on government.

Roger Williams

Headright system

Headrights were parcels of land consisting of about 50 acres which were given to colonists who brought indentured servants into America. They were used by the Virginia Company to attract more colonists.

Indentured servants

People who could not afford passage to the colonies could become indentured servants. Another person would pay their passage, and in exchange, the indentured servant would serve that person for a set length of time (usually seven years) and then would be free.

Bacon's Rebellion

A revolt against powerful colonial authority in Jamestown by Nathaniel Bacon and a group of landless frontier settlers that resulted in the burning of Jamestown in 1676; the people started to find new labor sources afterwards.

William Berkeley

A Governor of Virginia appointed by King Charles I, he was governor from 1641-1652 and 1660-1677. Berkeley enacted friendly policies towards the Indians that led to Bacon's Rebellion in 1676 (hanged 20 rebellions).

Virginia House of Burgesses

Great Puritan Migration

Many Puritans migrated from England to North America during the 1620s to the 1640s due to belief that the Church of England was beyond reform. Ended in 1642 when King Charles I effectively shut off emigration to the colonies with the start of the English Civil War.

City upon a hill

A phrase that is associated with John Winthrop's sermon "A Model of Christian Charity," given in 1630. Winthrop warned the Puritan colonists of New England who were to found the Massachusetts Bay Colony that their new community would be a "city upon a hill," watched by the world.

John Winthrop

The first governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony. Puritan who opposed total democracy, believing the colony was best governed by a small group of leaders. He helped organize the New England Confederation in 1643 and was its first president.

William Bradford

A Pilgrim, the second governor of the Plymouth colony, Between 1621-1657, he developed private land ownership and helped colonists get out of debt. He helped the colony survive droughts, crop failures, and Indian attacks.

Mayflower Compact

This document was drafted in 1620 prior to settlement by the Pilgrims at Plymouth Bay in Massachusetts. It declared that the 41 males who signed it agreed to accept majority rule and participate in a government in the best interest of all members of the colony. This agreement set the precedent for later documents outlining commonwealth rule.

John Rolfe

He was one of the English settlers at Jamestown (and he married Pocahontas). He discovered how to successfully grow tobacco in Virginia and cure it for export, which made Virginia an economically successful colony.

John Smith

Father Junipero Sera

1769, led Spanish missionaries (founded at San Diego) the first of a chain of 21missions that wound up the coast of San Fran Bay. He and his friars Christianized 300 thousand Californians. Mission Indians adopted Christianity, but lost culture and lives.

Christopher Columbus

Protestant Reformation

Religious reform movement within the Latin Christian Church beginning in 1519. It resulted in the 'protesters' forming several new Christian denominations, including the Lutheran and Reformed Churches and the Church of England.

Incas/Aztecs

George/Cecil Calvert

G. Calvert is also known as Lord Baltimore (and a Catholic), invested in the Virginia Company and eventually got land for his family; helped finding Maryland. Cecil Calvert is his son, the second Lord Baltimore; actually found and ran Maryland.

Puritans/Separists

The Puritans are protestants in England hoping to "purify" the Anglican church of Roman Catholic traces in practice and organization. A group of Puritans that wanted to completely separate from the Church of England are the Separists.

Virginia Company

Declaration of the Causes and Necessities for Taking Up Arms

A declaration by the representatives of the united colonies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms. " Our cause is just, our union is perfect"

Patriots

Loyalists

antifederalists

Opponents of the 1787 Constitution, they cast the document as antidemocratic, objected to the subordination of the states to the central government, and feared encroachment on individuals' liberties in the absence of a bill of rights.

Articles of Confederation (1781)

First American constitution that established the United States as a loose confederation of states under a weak national Congress, which was not granted the power to regulate commerce or collect taxes. The Articles were replaced by a more efficient Constitution in 1789.

civil law

common law

Laws that originate from court rulings and customs, as opposed to legislative statutes. The United States Constitution grew out of the Anglo-American common law tradition and thus provided only a general organizational framework for the new federal government.

disestablished

To separate an official state church from its connection with the government. Following the Revolution, all states disestablished the Anglican Church, though some New England states maintained established Congregational Churches well into the nineteenth century.

federalists

Great Compromise (1787)

Popular term for the measure which reconciled the New Jersey and Virginia plans at the constitutional convention, giving states proportional representation in the House and equal representation in the Senate. The compromise broke the stalemate at the convention and paved the way for subsequent compromises over slavery and the Electoral College.

Land Ordinance of 1785

New Jersey Plan (1787)

"Small-state plan" put forth at the Philadelphia convention, proposing equal representation by state, regardless of population, in a unicameral legislature. Small states feared that the more populous states would dominate the agenda under a proportional system.

Northwest Ordinance (1787)

Old Northwest

Territories acquired by the federal government from the states, encompassing land northwest of the Ohio River, east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes. The well-organized management and sale of the land in the territories under the land ordinances of 1785 and 1787 established a precedent for handling future land acquisitions.

Shays's Rebellion (1786)

Armed uprising of western Massachusetts debtors seeking lower taxes and an end to property foreclosures. Though quickly put down, the insurrection inspired fears of "mob rule" among leading Revolutionaries.

Society of the Cincinnati (1783)

The Federalist (1788)

Collection of essays written by John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton and published during the ratification debate in New York to lay out the Federalists' arguments in favor of the new Constitution. Since their publication, these influential essays have served as an important source for constitutional interpretation.

three-fifths compromise (1787)

Determined that each slave would be counted as three-fifths of a person for the purpose of apportioning taxes and representation. The compromise granted disproportionate political power to Southern slave states.

Virginia Plan

"Large state" proposal for the new constitution, calling for proportional representation in both houses of a bicameral Congress. The plan favored larger states and thus prompted smaller states to come back with their own plan for apportioning representation.

Matthew Lyon

compact theory

Stated that the thirteen sovereign states, in creating the government, had entered into a contract that allowed the government to rule while states would regulate it. Was used to reject the Alien and Sedition Acts

impressment

economic coercion

Jefferson came up with the Embargo Act which cut off all trade with all countries. Jefferson hoped this would force the English to come to his terms and stop stealing American sailors. This, however, did not work and greatly hurt American trade.

Macon's Bill No. 2

Aaron Burr

An American politician and adventurer. He was a formative member of the Democratic-Republican Party in New York and a strong supporter of Governor George Clinton. He is remembered not so much for his tenure as the third Vice President, under Thomas Jefferson, as for his duel with Alexander Hamilton, resulting in Hamilton's death. He is also known for his trial and acquittal on charges of treason. Jefferson's vice-president for his first term; not voted into a second term because of radical ideas and ventures that threatened to break up the Union and resulted in the death of Alexander Hamilton.

William Clark

Meriwether Lewis

Henry Clay

Distinguished senator from Kentucky, who ran for president five times until his death in 1852. He was a strong supporter of the American System, a war hawk for the War of 1812, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and known as "The Great Compromiser." Outlined the Compromise of 1850 with five main points. Died before it was passed however.

James Monroe

He was the fifth President of the United States. He is the author of the Monroe Doctrine. Proclaimed that the Americas should be closed to future European colonization and free from European interference in sovereign countries' affairs. It further stated the United States' intention to stay neutral in European wars

John Marshall

Samuel Chase

a strong supporter of the American Revolution, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, an ardent Federalist, and the only Supreme Court Justice ever to be impeached. A lawyer by proffesion, in 1796 he was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court by president Washington. This was after he served as Chief Justice of the General Court of Maryland in 1791. In 1804, for alleged prejudice against the Jeffersonians in treason and sedition trials. The senate, however, in a decision that indicated reluctance to remove judges for purely political reasons, did not convict him, and he remained on the court until his death.

James Madison

Toussaint L'Ouverture

was an important leader of the Haïtian Revolution and the first leader of a free Haiti. In a long struggle again the institution of slavery, he led the blacks to victory over the whites and free coloreds and secured native control over the colony in 1797, calling himself a dictator.

John Quincy Adams

Secretary of State, He served as sixth president under Monroe. In 1819, he drew up the Adams-Onis Treaty in which Spain gave the United States Florida in exchange for the United States dropping its claims to Texas. The Monroe Doctrine was mostly Adams' work.

Revolution of 1800

Midnight Judges

a nick name given to group of judges that was appointed by John Adams the night before he left office. He appointed them to go to the federal courts to have a long term federalist influence, because judges serve for life instead of limited terms

Chesapeake incident

1807 - The American ship Chesapeake refused to allow the British on the Leopard to board to look for deserters. In response, the Leopard fired on the Chesapeake. As a result of the incident, the U.S. expelled all British ships from its waters until Britain issued an apology. They surrendered the colony to the English on Sept. 8, 1664.

Marbury v. Madison

Embargo Act

Act that forbade the export of goods from the U.S. in order to hurt the economies of the warring nations of France and Britain. The act slowed the economy of New England and the south. The act was seen as one of many precursors to war.

American System (1820s)

Anglo-American Convention (1818)

Signed by Britain and the United States, the pact allowed New England fishermen access to Newfoundland fisheries, established the northern border of Louisiana territory and provided for the joint occupation of the Oregon Country for ten years.

Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)

Dartmouth College v. Woodward (1819)

Supreme Court case that sustained Dartmouth University's original charter against changes proposed by the New Hampshire state legislature, thereby protecting corporations from domination by state governments.

Hartford Convention (1814-1815)

Land Act of 1820

Fueled the settlement of the Northwest and Missouri territories by lowering the price of public land. Also prohibited the purchase of federal acreage on credit, thereby eliminating one of the causes of the Panic of 1819.

Missouri Compromise (1820)

Allowed Missouri to enter as a slave state but preserved the balance between North and South by carving free-soil Maine out of Massachusetts and prohibiting slavery from territories acquired in the Louisiana Purchase, north of the line of 36°30.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

Statement delivered by President James Monroe, warning European powers to refrain from seeking any new territories in the Americas. The United States largely lacked the power to back up the pronouncement, which was actually enforced by the British, who sought unfettered access to Latin American markets.

Battle of New Orleans (1815)

panic of 1819

Severe financial crisis brought on primarily by the efforts of the Bank of the United States to curb overspeculation on western lands. It disproportionately affected the poorer classes, especially in the West, sowing the seeds of Jacksonian Democracy.

peculiar institution

Widely used term for the institution of American slavery in the South. Its use in the first half of the 19th century reflected a growing division between the North, where slavery was gradually abolished, and the South, where slavery became increasingly entrenched.

Rush-Bagot agreement (1817)

Signed by Britain and the United States, it established strict limits on naval armaments in the Great Lakes, a first step in the full demilitarization of the U.S.-Canadian border, completed in the 1870s.

Russo-American Treaty (1824)

Tallmadge amendment (1819)

Failed proposal to prohibit the importation of slaves into Missouri territory and pave the way for gradual emancipation. Southerners vehemently opposed the amendment, which they perceived as a threat to the sectional balance between North and South.

Tariff of 1816

War of 1812 (1812-1815)

Fought between Britain and the United States largely over the issues of trade and impressment. Though the war ended in a relative draw, it demonstrated America's willingness to defend its interests militarily, earning the young nation newfound respect from European powers.